We can make San Antonio awesome, $1,000 at a time

I was doing my usual morning routine of reading work-related articles to send out on Twitter. I had just read an interesting article from The Rivard Report. It discussed the crisis of young professionals leaving San Antonio and never looking back.

San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. As it grows, community leaders are trying to figure out how to make it more appealing to young professionals who are not seeking just a career, but a lifestyle. That includes a satisfying nightlife, dog-friendly businesses, urbanized living, and innovation.

I felt a familiar sadness. As a proud UTSA alumnus, I was one of the few to stay behind after graduating in 2010. I’ve lost a lot of my friends to Austin, some to their hometowns and a couple to a nomadic life around the world.

I tweeted the article, and then kept reading. After a few more articles I discovered one describing The Awesome Foundation, an organization that provides a way for people who are not wealthy to get involved with local philanthropy. This was part of the solution to our crisis. It described everything young professionals, including myself, find appealing: art, philanthropy, community, friendship, awesomeness. I had to tweet this from my personal account. Then to give it more of an emphasis, I re-tweeted from the Area Foundation’s account. That morning on May 9, 2012, it received a lot of positive feedback, including a re-tweet by Graham Weston, chairman and founding investor with San Antonio-based Rackspace Hosting, a global leader in cloud computing.

It was amazing. I knew the next step was a plan of action. I immediately brought it to my supervisor’s attention and together we decided the San Antonio Area Foundation should offer its leadership support to this refreshing and innovative grassroots movement. We needed to establish an Awesome Foundation chapter in San Antonio.

What is The Awesome Foundation?

Since its founding in Boston, Mass., in 2009, the Awesome Foundation has grown internationally with 47 active chapters in 10 countries. It embraces those interested in “forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe” (or in this case, San Antonio).

Ten core members each donate $100 per month, vote and distribute $1,000 each month to one awesome project that enhances the community. These projects in other cities have included bringing to reality an artist’s vision for beautiful park benches, building downtown urban gardens, providing ramps to make buildings accessible and making it possible for under-served communities to use telescopes to enjoy the wonders of the night sky. As long as the projects are awesome, they have the potential.

This foundation appeals to those wanting to enhance San Antonio through their artwork or through innovative solutions to small problems. It also appeals to young professionals wanting to give back philanthropically without long-term commitments.

With one tweet, my morning routine was broken; I gathered an interested group willing to start the San Antonio chapter, received positive feedback from my colleagues and now have part of the solution to bringing my friends back into town.